The Opposite of Time: The Social History of Egg Collecting

Artist and musician Andy Holden lives and works in Bedford, UK and has recently exhibited at Tate, Kettle’s Yard, Glasgow International and Bristol’s Spike Island. For the last five years he has worked collaboratively with his father Peter Holden, a well-known ornithologist, to produce a number of works and performances which examine birds, nests and egg collecting. The culmination of this project is presented in the exhibition Natural Selection, first developed for Artangel in 2017 and currently on display at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne before touring to Leeds Art Gallery and Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

Andy Holden How the Artist was Lead to the Study of Nature (after Richard Pearson), 2017 part of Natural Selection at Newington Library, London 10 September - 26 November 2017. Presented by Artangel

Photo: Marcus Leith

The Henry Moore Foundation were delighted to support the project, which has been widely acclaimed, and we are thrilled that Andy has agreed to give this performance at the Henry Moore Studios & Gardens in Perry Green. Holden’s telling of a peculiarly British history of egg collecting, which explores our attitudes towards science, nature, knowledge and the urge to collect, finds an appropriate setting in the home of Moore, himself concerned with man’s relationship to the natural world.

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